EAST WHITTIER – With computers on nearly every desk and a new, sophisticated phone system and new computer network in place, East Whittier City School District officials say it’s time for them to come out of the dark.

Literally.

Over the past few months, the district’s main office has struggled to keep up with its own power demands – so much so that about a month ago, it blew out its second transformer of the year, just a few months after it had been replaced.

As recently as last week, said teacher Madeline Shapiro, she was in contract negotiations at the district office. “And twice, the power just went off.”

“Both times it was just for a few minutes,” said Shapiro, “but nevertheless, it’s been too much for the electrical system. When you have equipment that is state-of-the-art, and the electrical system is not – well, something’s gotta give.”

That’s why district Chief Operations Officer Lee Bean is putting a proposal before the school board next week to hire an electrical engineer to draw up plans for upgrading the electrical system at the main offices.

It’s unclear at this point how much the upgrade will cost, Bean said. But the school sites underwent this kind of upgrade several years ago.

“Now we have to get the district office up to the same standards,” Bean said.

Edison spokeswoman Sylvia Southerland said when the district’s second transformer failed, “we came in and had a long discussion with them about how we could best accommodate their present needs, and their future needs as well.”

That’s when the transformer was upgraded from 500 kilovolt amperes (kVA) to about 1,000 kVA.

“This is pretty typical, as customers expand and their need (for power) expands as well,” Southerland said. “This type of thing does happen.”

It’s just a sign of the times, Bean says – and a sign that the district has some catching up to do.

“Twenty years ago, how many computers were on people’s desks? None,” Bean said. “So we recognize that we have to upgrade, so we don’t have a problem in the future.”